You may also be interested in the following articles...

Malaysia’s Malindo Air is poised to have a momentous year in 2017, with more rapid expansion and a highly anticipated rebranding. Malindo plans to adopt the Batik Malaysia brand in early 2017, positioning it alongside Indonesia-based Batik Air as the two full service airlines in the Lion Group.

Malindo has been one of Asia’s fastest-growing airlines since it launched services in Mar-2013. It recently reached the 40-aircraft milestone, after adding an astonishing 13 aircraft in just six months. Malindo plans to end 2016 with a fleet of 42 and take at least 10 additional aircraft in 2017.

The focus in 2017 will mainly be on adding capacity to existing destinations, improving connectivity as it looks to drive more transit and interline traffic. However new routes to Australia, China and Saudi Arabia are planned in early 2017, followed by potential new routes to Japan, Korea and Pakistan later in the year – leveraging the improved range of the 737 MAX.

Malaysia’s AirAsia X is considering the lease of A350s or 777-300ERs in 2017 to accelerate its return to Europe. A new widebody type will add cost and complexity but is necessary if the medium/long haul low cost airline is to meet its objective of relaunching London as soon as possible.

AirAsia X had been planning to wait until it receives A330-900neos before relaunching London and commencing other European routes. However the airline prefers not to wait until 2H2018, when its A330-900neo deliveries are slated to begin, and using another aircraft type in the interim mitigates the impact of a potential delay with the A330neo variant required for Kuala Lumpur-London.

AirAsia X could also use a new aircraft type – most likely A350-900s – to support new routes to the US. It plans to launch services from Japan to Hawaii in Jun-2017 using A330ceos, but also has longer-term plans for longer routes from Japan to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco – and potentially ultra-long haul routes from Malaysia to the US.